Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

I wrote about Ms Raskin in my Feb. 24 post here. Biden has sought to make her vice chair of the  Federal Reserve for supervision.  I said that some Republicans were making any unholy fuss about this appointment, for two bad reasons and one not-so-bad reason. The bad reasons are: (first) she is the wife of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D - Md) against whom the Republicans have grudges, and  (second) she believes she could use the levers of bank supervision to do something positive about carbon emissions/climate change issues.  Those are bad reasons because first, personal grudges make mad policy and, second, there isn't much she could do about that subject, except advance the cause of transparency, which doesn't sound awful to me.  The not-so-bad reason involves crony capitalism. Raskin has been a long-term occupant of the revolving door between the banking industry and its regulators, cashing in as part of the former on her experiences and contacts within the latter. This ...

The Biden administration has nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the vice chair for supervision on the Federal Reserve. That is not one of the best known positions that it is a President's duty to fill, but it is an important one. In coordination with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency within the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve has supervisory authority over the banks that the federal government insures. The vice chair for supervision has no special role in the monetary-policy part of the Fed's remit, but she is in charge of its regulatory role.  Still, this is rarely the stuff of confirmation fights. Why are the Republicans making an unholy fuss about this appointment? There are two bad reasons, and one kind-of good one. The first bad reason is that Sarah Bloom Raskin is the wife of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D - Md). To stop her ratification would be to deal a blow to him and he, to his lasting credit, has done nothing to endear himself to the Republicans of the upper hous...